


Fairground Fun

by TheMadKingTargaryen



Category: Original Work
Genre: Carnival, Creepy, Fairground, Feet, Funfair, Gay, M/M, Magic, Male - Freeform, Revenge, Stocks, Torture, Trippy, tickle, tickled, ticklish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-24
Updated: 2020-03-24
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:01:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23295178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMadKingTargaryen/pseuds/TheMadKingTargaryen
Summary: Stoner Jared bumps into his ex, Charlie, in a situation too bizarre to be real and too fateful to be a coincidence...All characters are 18+
Kudos: 5





	1. Chapter 1

There was nothing more satisfying to Jared than the click of a lighter, the sparking, sizzling flame that followed, charring the end of the blunt. Then, smoke. Blissfully hot exhaust flowing into his mouth and nose after a drag, tasting like grass and tree bark, searing down his throat and consuming his lungs. The feeling that followed was Jared's favourite on earth; the feeling of your brain expanding, relaxing, making the smallest of things funny.

"Pass the lighter, Jay." Chuck beckoned, holding out his arm lazily. He was leaning on the back of the truck that was folded out into a ride, coloured bulbs lining the other half of it. Jared stood facing him, hood up.

"Where's yours, you forgetful prick?" Jared responded, exhaling the weed smoke in a cloud.

"I think it fell out of my pocket when me and Kristen were fucking in my car and now I can't find it. So pass it over."

"T-M-I, dude. I'm sorry I asked." Jared tossed the lighter, wrinkling his nose at the image. Chuck and Kristen didn't understand the concept of personal space. He couldn't even fathom the amount of nuzzling, groping, nibbling and licking that would take place in one of their love-making sessions.

The funfair raged the other side of the truck - spinning, creaking metal, flashing lights and the fuzzy smell of cotton candy hanging in the air - but Jared and Chuck were happy lurking in the shadows, at least until their joints burned out. One never knew which of the perky suburban moms that populated Norton would snitch and which would join you for a smoke if they knew no one was watching, so it was better not to risk it and be surreptitious with their pot-smoking.

When their cigarettes had burned down to stumps the two seniors integrated into the fair, meeting up with the missing link of their stoner trio, Jade.

"Did you two fuckers get high without me?" Jade demanded. The girl was remarkably beautiful and would have been the queen bee of North Norton High in another life. Jared was sure she would have boys clamouring all over her 24/7, but most were scared of her. Her bubblegum pink hair and extensively pierced left ear would have probably been enough knowing the fragile masculinity of most males, but the main reason was that Jade had been suspended as a freshman for punching Xavier Richards straight in the face. She says he squeezed her ass, he still insists it was an unprovoked attack. No matter the cause, Xavier came back to school with a giant plaster over his broken nose and a newly developed tendency for nosebleeds. All the moronic boys at school avoided Jade from that day forth. Not that Jade cares: she's a self-proclaimed "Mega-Lesbian".

"Just a little." Chuck snickered like a naughty child.

"Damn it! I told you to wait for me! Assholes."

Jared, who was the unelected leader of the group, patted Jade on the shoulder with mock sympathy. "I'm sure you'll get over it. Where to first?"

Chuck perked up. "Cotton candy!"

"No, no, no. Chuck, the last time this fair was in town we let you get cotton candy early on and you threw up on Jack Pines. Sizzler first." Jade's tone was final.

"Sizzler it is." The kush was taking full effect by now so Jared would have agreed even if Jade had said 'let's go break into the police station confiscation cupboard', but luckily she had suggested something sensible. Sober Jared definitely wouldn't want a repeat of the last time they had broken into the police station. That hadn't ended well.

The trio idled their way to the ride, joining the queue, the three stoners of North Norton High.

-

Ding

Charlie surfaced from his book for just a moment, glancing at his phone lying on the table, the screen lit up with what was probably some other inane notification about some other equally inane topic. He would much rather be reading his book (it was a very good book) so he ignored it and sank back into the fantasy world, one without phones, a world with dragons and sorcerers and ice demons and prophecies —

Ding

Charlie winced. He ignored it.

Ding

"For fuck's sake." He muttered, capitulating and replacing the book in his hand with his phone. His screen was plastered with texts from his friends on their group chat.

"charlie ur coming to the fair with us"

"I agree, you are."

"we'll come and pick u up at six"

"u have no choice. The council had decided your fate."

Charlie exhaled through his nose at their comments. He loved his friends...but he really didn't want to leave his house...but, then again, it was a nice warm evening and the fair did sound fun...

"Fine." He messaged back, tugging his shoes on and heading downstairs to wait for the car.

It turned up five minutes later and he hopped into the back seat of Rick's beat-up old Toyota Corolla.

"Hey, loser." James greeted from the passenger seat.

"Hi, Charlie!" Garett said, chirpy was always.

"Sup," said Rick, turning completely around from the drivers seat. "Did we interrupt a wank session?"

"Ew, fuck off Rick." Charlie blushed at the suggestion.

"It interrupted mine." James grumbled.

The car sped off and they reached the fair in minutes, Rick sloppily parking in one of the spaces.

"First destination: Flying Dutchman." James said as they entered the park, and the group agreed.

They had to walk past a whole line of rides to get to the Dutchman, which was at the far end of the fair. When they passed the Sizzler he could have sworn he'd glimpsed a flash of pink hair flapping wildly from one of the seats as they whipped past each other erratically, looking at risk of collision, but never colliding.

No.

Pink hair meant Jade Kinsella.

Jade Kinsella meant Jared.

Jared was here.

Jared the school stoner.

Jared with the mysterious backstory.

Jared, Charlie's ex boyfriend.

Shit.

Charlie shivered despite the warm air of the evening and hurried his friends along; he'd have to try to stay on rides most of the night to avoid his ex.

Their breakup hadn't even been messy. Charlie had explained to Jared that his drug taking habits were making him uncomfortable and they split amicably, but it was still awkward, not least because, if he let himself dwell on it (which he didn't often do), Charlie still had feelings for the tall, handsome boy he'd had to himself for the better part of two years. Even though he knew better he couldn't help the feelings that still burned in his heart like the glowing embers of a fire that refuse to die. Jay had made Charlie a better person; before they'd met he could often be short with people, and did act quite entitled sometimes...ok quite a lot of the time actually, but Jay had changed all that. When they were together, at least. Had Charlie reverted back to his old ways? He hoped not, but he honestly couldn't tell.

His group of friends hurried at his snappy request (not that they knew about Charlie and Jared; their relationship had been on the down-low) but, just when the queue to the Dutchman was in sight, they were stopped by a tall man who all but ambushed them from one of the darker paths of the fair that branched off. The slender man wore a long red coat, the kind that ringleaders wore, with golden buttons and long tails hanging from the small of his back. Black trousers and dress shoes garbed his bottom half and a tall top hat was balanced on his head, extending his height even more. His bony hands were wrapped around a long black cane with a gigantic jewel at the pommel (probably fake, Charlie thought sceptically, rolling his eyes in an exaggerated fashion. They didn't have time for this).

The age of this man was hard to place. He was pale, with shortish jet black hair and entrancing alexandrite eyes that seemed to shift colours and dance in the fading light. If someone put a gun to Charlie's head he would say the man was twenty five, but he held himself with the effortless confidence of someone much older.

"Good evening, boys." The man's voice was warm and inviting, and Charlie could feel himself sinking into it as he spoke. "Would you like to take part in a challenge?"

Charlie spoke first. "Sorry, we've got to get to the Dutchman." He tried to pull his friends away but they were all intrigued by the man's suggestion and didn't move at his prodding.

"The Dutchman will be open all night, my boy," the man spoke to Charlie as if he was twice his age when there was probably less than ten years between them. The bookish lad was starting to really not like that man, and was annoyed at his friends for still listening to him. "My challenge is only to open to those who need it."

Garett piped up. "What kind of challenge is it?"

"One of endurance, patience and growth. Truly a unique experience. One of a kind." The man's smile never faltered.

"Do you win anything?" Rick asked.

"The group that wins the challenge will win ten tickets entitling them to any of the prizes on offer at the prize stall, but the one of you who takes part in the challenge will win something much greater whether they win or lose."

Rick, James and Garett all gasped, excited at the prospect of winning those tickets; the top end prizes included things like Xboxes and Nintendo Switches, expensive games and tech and even the latest iPhone. But Charlie was caught on what the man had said about the person doing the challenge. They would win something much greater? Why weren't his friends concerned that this guy was making the most cryptic and ominous statement ever?

"We're in." James announced on behalf of the whole group.

"Excellent. Follow me, challengers." The man turned and started walking down the dark path he had come from.

Charlie's friends followed without hesitation, but Charlie hung back for a moment. Why were they following a literal stranger down a dark path? He was about to carry on to the Dutchman alone when he glanced back at the man leading his friends away. His worries melted away like ice cream in the sun as his eyes locked onto the man's cane, and he had the sudden urge to go with his friends.

Charlie's legs almost started walking of their own volition, but he didn't mind. He let the gloom swallow him as he followed the man deeper down the path, all resistance wiped from his mind.


	2. Chapter 2

Jared and his friends got off the Sizzler feeling exhilarated and dizzy, but luckily Chuck hadn't thrown up this time.

"Dutchman next?" Jared suggested.

"Sure, but I need the toilet first." Jade said.

"Me too." Chuck agreed.

"I'll meet you there then. Don't take too long."

Jared walked the whole way there alone, hood up. Plenty of people from school passed him, and he ignored them and they him. Being a stoner leaves you in a completely neutral position in the vicious hierarchy that is high school. You aren't in charge, you aren't subject to rules, you aren't bullied and you aren't the bully. You're almost outside of the bubble entirely, if you keep to yourself, which Jared had. Well...until Charlie...but he tried not to think about that.

Just outside the Dutchman, though, he was stopped by a beautiful women, dressed from head to toe in classic circus costume; a long red coat, flowing skirt, black boots and a jaunty little bowler hat resting atop her blonde curls. A ring with the biggest jewel Jared had ever seen rested on the index finger of her right hand.

"You're perfect!" The woman exclaimed. "Take part in our challenge and you will be greatly rewarded."

Jared was prepared to walk right past this weirdly dressed woman (he was almost too high for this) but the idea of a prize kept him there.

"What kind of reward?" He asked, eyebrow raised.

The woman smiled.

-

The man led them to a curtained stage in a secluded part of the fair (secluded as in: nobody there) with a large chair in the centre of it. The chair was facing off stage and had large stocks at the end of it, with a long draping curtain hanging just past the stocks. The group of lads were currently standing where the audience would be if this was a functioning stage...which it definitely didn't look like. It was finely decorated, with stylised designs like Victorian circuses had, but the paint was peeling in places and the lights, when the man switched them on, looked like they had been plucked from a 1930s film set.

"It's only a one person challenge?" James asked.

"Indeed. The rest of you will watch from here and will be needed for moral support, I'm sure. Now let's see which of you is up to it." The man closed his eyes and slowly walked around the boys, cane gripped tightly in his hands. When he got to Charlie he stopped and pointed, taking a deep breath. "You."

Charlie started. "What? No. I didn't even want to come here, pick one of those three."

The man's dazzling smile dropped for the first time. "It has to be you."

Charlie felt that thing again, that force, almost magnetic, tampering with his feelings. The look the man gave was one that meant he was serious, and Charlie wasn't really confident enough to resist this stranger. "Fine."

He followed the slender figure up onto the stage while his friends waited below. He was asked to sit in the chair and he did so. It tilted him back slightly and raised his leg so that his feet rested perfectly in the semi circles of the open stocks. He was really nervous now. His friends were still going along with this as if it was normal, and he was too nervous to object as the man tied a belt over his waist, securing him to the chair.

"I'm going to remove your shoes and socks, now."

"What? Why?" Charlie exclaimed. "Don't! Let me out!"

His friends shouted up at him from the ground.

"Charlie, hey, stop freaking out, just do it and think of the awesome stuff we'll win!"

"Yeah it can't be that hard, just hang in there."

"You can do it Charlie!" Garett shouted.

They didn't even know what it was was yet, but they were pretty sure Charlie could win whatever the challenge was. He wasn't.

The man pulled the curtains of the stage closed and then unlaced both of his converse and let them drop to the floor. Then he slipped both black socks off revealing Charlie's pasty feet, toes now wrinkling at the warm night air that was free to circulate around them. The feeling was distinctly unnerving. Being fully clothed and barefoot in public was a very weird combination that made him feel more exposed than if he was barefoot and scantily clad, like at the town lido. It put more of a focus on his feet, which he wasn't particularly comfortable with.

"You haven't even told me what this fucking challenge is yet." Charlie protested, trying to sound confident. (And failing.)

The man slammed the large stocks down over Charlie's ankles, securely trapping his feet on the other side, exposed and unwillingly waiting for whatever the goddamn challenge was. "Tickling." The man's words washed over Charlie like a wave over an impermeable rock. Then it sank in, percolating into his brain, being processed, triggering a reaction.

"WHAT?" Charlie yelled. "You could have fucking told me! Get me out of this thing now!" He wasn't even exceptionally ticklish but anyone who had nerves would object to having their bare feet locked in stocks and vulnerable to some assailant.

"I'm afraid it's too late for that. The safe word is 'fulcrum'. Try not to say it. Otherwise you lose." The man then walked off stage.

"What the fuck? What the fuck? Why is this happening to me?" He tried to undo the belt that prevented him from being able to reach the stocks but he couldn't find a latch anywhere. This was all his friends' fault! They'd been the ones to agree to the challenge and now he was the one taking part in it!

He sat alone in the chair for a few moments, contemplating what could possibly happen to him when he heard some noises coming from behind the silky purple curtain that draped lazily just past the locked stocks, completely obstructing his view of whatever was behind it. He got butterflies. He could hear footsteps, two pairs of them at first, then they stopped and inaudible whispers started. Then one set of footsteps receded. Was this whoever was going to be - he gulped - tickling him?

Before he could do anything more the large stage curtains opened, unveiling a big crowd of people - who had most certainly not been there before - cheering for the commencing of the show.

Charlie's eyes widened. What was going on here? He didn't know there would be a moronic mass of people gawping at him while he got the shit tickled out of him. This made his situation a hundred times worse. And where were his friends? He couldn't see them in the sea of faces.

A spotlight buzzed on and shone a beam of light at him.

It was about to begin.

-

The beautiful woman (beautiful in a purely platonic way, of course; Jared didn't have much interest in women) led him to a large stage with the curtains closed. When on stage she positioned him behind a long curtain and whispered what was going to happen.

She'd told him that he'd just have to tickle someone for ten minutes, trying to get them to say the safe word within the time limit. It was a pretty weird situation to be in (tickling? Come on) but when the woman had said the prize for winning he would have agreed to nearly anything. Ten tickets for any of the prizes at the prize stall? He could get ten of the most expensive items, keep one (or maybe three, for Jade and Chuck as well), sell the rest and use the money to buy weed. Lots and lots and lots of weed. He nearly salivated at the thought.

Moments after she'd left, the curtains opened, revealing a large crowd who cheered. They'd gathered quickly: Jared could have sworn nobody was there when he'd walked past, but he was still high. A man, dressed very similarly to the woman, walked out and explained the challenge to the crowd in an exaggerated manor, gesticulating wildly. He then walked off.

And the purple curtain dropped.


	3. Chapter 3

"Charlie?" Jared exclaimed, though it was obviously his boyfrie- ex boyfriend, his feet bared and locked in stocks before him. Why had he subjected himself to this? He wasn't the kind of person who would voluntarily put himself through this, but, then again, what did Jared know? He hadn't seemed like the kind of person who would dump him over the phone, but he'd sure done that.

Charlie's face turned a blistering red at the sight of Jared and his jaw dropped. He seemed to be struggling to find words to articulate how he was feeling.

Before he could, the voice of the man boomed from backstage. "Let the challenge commence!"

A large mechanical flip clock at the back of the stage started counting down the seconds from ten minutes.

Charlie finally found his tongue. "Jared, please don't do this!"

Jared considered this. On the one hand, Charlie looked really stressed out and it would probably be the nice thing to do to forfeit the challenge. On the other hand he really fucking wanted the prize (think of the drugs!) and Charlie BROKE HIS HEART OVER THE PHONE, so Jared owed him nothing. In fact, Charlie deserved this.

So - hood still up, still slightly high - Jared smirked in response to his ex boyfriend, and began stroking his bare soles with his blunt fingernails, causing the brunette lad to flail about, glasses glinting in the light of the spotlight. The chair he was in hadn't restrained his arms so he was free to wave his arms in protest, but they could get nowhere near close enough to unlock the stocks thanks to the belt that kept his body firmly away from them. The chair must have been designed that way, to make the subject feel even worse; they could get so very close to freedom...but just couldn't quite reach it. Torture.

"Jay! Jay, stop! Please! Hahahahaha!" Charlie laughed like a madman, and the crowd were loving it, jeering and clapping and whistling. They seemed to be on Jared's team, and he was loving it. It felt like he was finally getting payback for the way Charlie had treated him.

"Just say the word and this can can be over." Jared teased. After a year of being exclusive with Charlie he knew all the best ways to get the best reaction out of his ex. What was it? When he stroked his nail at the base of Charlie's second - no, third - toe, that was a real sweet spot...

-

Jared scraped his nail at the base of Charlie's third toe and the boy leapt in the chair, frantically trying to tug his exposed feet out of the stocks in vain.

"Hahahahahahahahafuckfuckfuckhahahah!" His ex boyfriend's nail tortured his weak spot while the rest of his fingers raked up and down his feet, making him breathless with laughter. "That little shit! He knows just where to tickle to make me lose this fucking thing." Charlie thought.

Charlie had been shocked when Jared had been the one behind the curtain, and had been even more shocked when the pothead had actually started tickling him. Why would Jared do this to him? They had broken up amicably! Well...not exactly, Charlie had kind of dumped him over the phone and then hung up when Jared was mid-question...but surely that wasn't enough to torture him to tear in front of a giant crowd! Was it?

-

Jared was loving this. It was like he was controlling a marionette puppet; a scratch here, a scribble there and Jared could have the boy in the chair leaping this way and that, laughing all the while. He felt powerful.

While he had been tickling him a lot he hadn't come close to making Charlie crack, and the time was almost half way done. Five minutes and twenty seconds to ruin the boy in front of him. He had been using all of the particularly sensitive spots (the bundle of nerves below his toes was a beauty) and Charlie had been begging for it to stop and was as ruddy faced as they come, but if Jared had learned one thing from going out with the boy, it was that he was as stubborn as a mountain. Jared would have to really up his game.

As if hearing his thoughts, when the timer hit the five minute mark a tray opened from the bottom of the stocks with a hiss. Lying on the try, gleaming like gold, were two skinny, black hairbrushes with rounded bristles. The crowd cheered at the arrival of some tools.

Jared scooped them with a shit-eating grin.

-

Charlie wasn't sure, at first, what Jared had just picked up, but he was soon enlightened when two brushes were dragged across his ticklish feet, deftly weaving up and down the pale soles like synchronised dancers, designed with maximum ticklish efficiency in mind.

"FUCKNOOOOOOHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Charlie shrieked at the new, ruthless torment, cursing whoever had invented such brutal tools. He wasn't entirely unconvinced it was lucifer himself who had crafted them. They sure felt like torture devices that would be used in hell.

"Just say the word, Charlie. Fulcrum. That's all you have to say." Charlie wished Jared's words wouldn't be so tempting but...they were. He tried to imagine what it would feel like to have his soles unstimulated, and was seconds away from caving.

-

Charlie was close, but the time was running out. Tears leaked from his vibrant blue eyes and he was visibly sweating; the hairbrushes were really taking a toll on him, but Jared needed this win. It had to happen, to balance the forces of the universe.

Two minutes remained. Jared moved onto the final stage of his plan of action. He lifted the brushes for a moment, drawing Charlie into a false sense of security, and then, striking like a viper from the dark, he brutally dragged the brushes sideways back and forth across the pads of Charlie's smooth soles. Again and again and again and again and again, tormenting the most sensitive areas of his feet without remorse. This was for all of the hurt that he'd put Jared through, the way he'd made him feel when the click of the call disconnecting had permeated Jared's ears. The pent up feeling all came flooding out in this one mega assault.

Charlie broke like a dam.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! FULCRUM! FULCRUMHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Jared was reluctant to stop the torment, but he had mercy and lifted the brushes. Both boys stopped for a moment, panting (one slightly more than the other, for obvious reasons).

The man in the coat cane out from backstage, clapping along with the now frantic crowd, an envelope tucked under his arm. After a booming announcement of the congratulations he handed Jared the envelope and made him bow towards the crowd. He released Charlie from the chair and made him stand there, barefoot and sweaty, and bow to the crowd. The sweeping curtains closed soon after.

"Congratulations, young sir," he gestured towards Jared. "And commiserations to you." Charlie looked up sheepishly. "Feel free to go, and thank you so very much for taking part." Charlie looked too out of breath to respond, but Jared was sure he would have said something about not wanting to. The man stalked back into the shadows of backstage leaving the two boys alone.

-

Jared turned to go without so much as a backwards glance at Charlie. The bookish lad felt a large pang of guilt at the sight. He had loved this boy. He did love him. And he had thrown that all away, for what?

"Jay- Jared, wait. Please." Charlie said, his voice wavering.

The hooded boy slowed, and glanced over his shoulder. "What?"

"Look, I'm really sorry about how I treated you. I fucked up big time. Dumping you so harshly over the phone, hanging up on you...it was a dick move. It was cowardly." Jared turned all the way around to face Charlie. "And...I'm sorry. You don't have to forgive me, but I just want you to know that I'm really, truly sorry. You mean a lot to me." Charlie rubbed his arm awkwardly, repeatedly trying to make eye contact, but not being quite able.

Jared sighed slightly, as if he was pondering whether or not to respond. Or possibly...how to respond.

-

"I forgive you. It was a dick move. It really fucking hurt. But I forgive you." Jared couldn't help smiling a little. "Ahem, you- er, you mean a lot to me too." Now he was the one not making eye contact, but he could sense Charlie's elation at the words, and that warmed his heart. "Sorry for tickling you so much, but I guess that means we're even. See you at school, I guess."

"That's ok. See you at school."

They locked eyes and, for a moment, the spark they once had flickered to life. Jared turned to go, feeling a weight lifted off his shoulders.

The courtyard in front of the stage was deserted when Jared walked out, not one bit of evidence remained that there had been approximately one hundred people crowded there before; no footprints, no litter, no nothing.

Shrugging it off he walked back down the path the way he came, eventually coming out on the promenade leading to the Dutchman. As soon as he stepped over the threshold his phone exploded with dings, buzzed and notifications. Ten texts and five missed calls from both of his friends. "Shit." He called Jade back.

"Hey." She picked up. "Where have you been? We're at the Dutchman."

"Sorry, I got...caught up with something."

"Just get your ass here now." She hung up.

Jared smiled, shoved his phone in his pocket (drumming his fingers on his envelope) and strolled to the Dutchman, happy, if a little confused, at how the night had played out.

-

Charlie tugged his shoes and socks back on gruffly, muttering under his breath. He was annoyed at what had happened to him, but he couldn't ignore the warm glow that filled him after the interaction with Jared.

The crowd was nowhere to be seen when he left the stage, but, more weirdly, neither were his friends.

"Fucking arseholes." Charlie cursed, making his way back to the main thoroughfare.

"There you are!" Garett exclaimed when he arrived into the thick of the crowds. His friends were all looking at him with puzzled faces.

"Where have you been? One second you were next to us and the next you weren't." Rick said.

Charlie took this in. "What are you on about? I was with you, remember that guy told us about this challenge," he turned to gesture at the path he had just emerged from. It was gone. The path. There were stalls lining exactly where the path had just been. "What the fuck?" He said.

"Are you feeling ok, Charlie?" Garett asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Erm, yeah...yeah I'm good. Er...where next?" He hoped he was doing a good job of keeping his cool. Had he just hallucinated that whole experience? But no that made no sense, Jared was there and he was definitely being tickled.

The text from Jay later that night would confirm that he hadn't hallucinated the experience, but for the rest of the night Charlie stayed close to his friends and kept his eyes peeled for a man in a red coat, with a bejewelled cane that glittered like the sun...


End file.
